1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with an LED drive circuit and with a method of driving an LED.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The present invention has been developed in response to requirements for aircraft lighting utilising light emitting diodes (LEDs) although it has numerous potential applications in connection with lighting for other purposes. LEDs offer great advantages over more traditional light sources such as filament bulbs. LEDs have a much longer service life than such traditional sources, are more energy efficient and can be chosen to emit only, or largely, in selected frequency ranges. It is known to utilise a bank of LEDs to substitute for a filament bulb eg in traffic lights or in external aircraft lighting. Lamps suitable for such purposes are disclosed, for example, in published French patent application FR2586844 (Sofrela S.A.) and in later British patent GB 2334376 B (L.F.D. limited), both utilising a PCB bearing a bank of LEDs which together provide the luminous intensity required to replace the filament of a traditional bulb.
It is very well known that a circuit for driving an LED should incorporate some means for limiting the current passing through them. The resistance of an LED varies with temperature and if no limit is imposed on the current passing through it, the result can be excessive power being dissipated in the LED with consequent damage to it. The simplest current limiter is a resistor in series with the LED. An alternative is to drive the LED (or LEDs) using a constant current source. The lamp disclosed in GB 2334376B, mentioned above, is believed to operate in this manner.
The present inventor has however recognised that more sophisticated control of the LED is desirable in certain contexts. One reason for this is the change in characteristics of the LED which takes place as it warms up in use. LED lamps driven by conventional circuitry typically become dimmer as this warming takes place and so may be too bright for their function when first switched on or too dim once they have warmed up.
A specific problem of this type is found to occur with aircraft navigation lights. LEDs have been chosen for such lights, among other reasons, because they can be selected and driven to emit very largely at chosen visible frequencies with low emission in the infra red region to which military night vision systems are sensitive. The intention is that while training military personnel in use of night vision systems such aircraft lights can be switched on (to provide the visible beacon required by civil aviation authorities) without causing dazzle (sometimes referred to as “saturation” or “blooming”) of the highly sensitive night vision system through excessive infra red emission. Navigation lights must meet statutory requirements, eg laying down a minimum luminosity, at all times, whether they are hot or cold. Using conventional drive technology the result is that a high voltage per LED must be provided to drive the LEDs when they are cold (so that they meet the luminosity requirement) and that as the LEDs warm up they are correspondingly over driven when hot.
European patent application EP0516398 (Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation) discloses a circuit for controlling an LED with the object of providing a highly stable output emission spectrum to serve as a “standard light source”. Microprocessor control is used to effect closed loop stabilisation of output wavelength. The approach adopted would not solve the problems to which the present invention is addressed.